XIV., is hinted at here, probably merely on account of his name.
[369] _Le mortier_, in the original. See page 168, note 3.
[370] La Bruyère employs _le vide de la consignation_. See page 169,
note 2.
[371] _Pécunieux_ our author uses in its Latin meaning.
[372] Gilt nails were the principal ornaments of the heavy and unwieldy
coaches of the age of Louis XIV.
[373] Some unprincipled suitors borrowed costly jewels which they put
in the _trousseau_ of their brides, but which had to be returned after
the marriage.
[374] Gaultier was the proprietor of a well-known warehouse for the
sale of silks and gold and silver-embroidered stuffs in the Rue des
Bourdonnais, in Paris, during the latter part of the seventeenth
century.
[375] According to an immemorial custom in Paris, a young wife showily
dressed had to sit up on her bed during the first three days after
marriage to receive visits. Several memoirs and letters of the time
refer to it. Addison in “The Spectator,” No. 45, speaks also of the
“English ladies ... brought up the fashion of receiving visits in their
beds.”
[376] People were then (1688-1694) in the habit of dining at twelve
oʼclock, and of taking supper at seven or eight; hence the reference to
the “five hours.”
[377] We do not know if this refers to Swiss porters or Swiss guards;
I should think it meant the former, and intends to point out that the
lady made three calls. (See also page 134, note 4.)
[378] This paragraph alludes, of course, to the visits ladies pay one
another.
[379] _Sou pour livre_, or a penny in the pound, in the original, was a
tax on merchandise of a twentieth part of their value.
[380] Wax-candles were a luxury at the time La Bruyère wrote, and
chiefly manufactured at Bougiah, on the coast of Africa; hence their
name, _bougie_.
[381] In every parliament there were originally two courts, and
two kinds of barristers or _conseillers_; one court was called the
_grandʼchambre_, where the cases were heard; in the other court, the
_chambre des enquêtes_, reports in writing were made of all cases.
[382] The nobleman or lady of high rank to whom the education of
the children of royalty was intrusted in France bore the title of
_gouverneur_, or _gouvernante des enfants de France_.
[383] Voltaire attacked this paragraph, and maintained it was
ridiculous to praise our forefathers for being calculating, slow,
coarse, and not very cleanly. Moreover, money should not be stowed
away in coffers, but circulate. One of the latest commentators of La
Bruyère, M. Destailleur, observes rightly that our author only praises
economy, simplicity, and moderation, and not avarice and uncleanliness,
and that he merely attacks the pretended showiness of men wishing to
imitate people of high rank; hence the last sentence.
[384] Not alone La Bruyère, but many of the most eminent persons of his
time, such as Saint-Simon, Bourdaloue, Fénelon, Massillon, Madame de
Maintenon, the Duke of Orléans and his mother, had the same opinion of
the court and courtiers.
[385] It was only in the sixth edition of the “Characters” that our
author printed Versailles in full; until then it was only “V ...”
[386] The French has _fourriers_, _petits contrôleurs_, and _chefs
de fruiterie_. The first looked after the lodgings of the persons
following the court when the king was travelling; the second
superintended the expenses of the kingʼs table and household; and the
third set out the dessert and provided the wax-candles for the kingʼs
dining-room. A _fourrier_ is still a non-commissioned officer in the
French army who has charge of the quarters and provisions of the men.
[387] _Faire son capital_, in the original, a phrase much in vogue
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
[388] This paragraph is said to apply to a certain M. de Barète,
unknown to fame, or to the brother of Madame de Maintenon. (See page
65, note 4.)
[389] It was not considered etiquette to knock or to rap at the door of
the kingʼs chamber, or at the door of any noblemanʼs room; but a person
asking to be admitted simply scratched the door with his nails, whilst
the fashionables used their combs, which they always carried about with
them to comb their long wigs. Only the princes, the grand officers
of the crown, and some favourite nobles were admitted to the grand
levée of Louis XIV., then officers of an inferior rank and a certain
number of courtiers were allowed to enter the room; the crowd were not
admitted, but had to wait till the king left the room, and then stood
aside.
[390] This is said to be an allusion to a certain Italian quack,
Caretto or Caretti, then the fashion, who is mentioned by Saint-Simon
in his _Mémoires_ and by Madame de Sévigné in her _Letters_.
[391] By the Castle is meant Versailles.
[392] This seems a more correct portrait of M. de Langlée than the
one to be found in the chapter “Of the Gifts of Fortune,” § 21 (see
also page 139, note 6). Saint-Simon, in his _Mémoires_, often mentions
him and his mother, who was the queenʼs chamber-maid, and through her
influence at court got him introduced amongst the highest of the land.
He also speaks of de Langléeʼs successes at play, his intimacy with the
king, and the kingʼs mistresses, favourites, and family, his want of
intelligence, and his great tact, except in continually using obscene
words, and finally his being an _arbiter elegantiarum_. Madame de
Sévigné also refers to him and his familiarity.
[393] See p. 135, note 4.
[394] Some commentators think this refers to the Duke de Bouillon,
because his name means also “beef-tea,” and because he wished to add
to his family name, La Tour, that of dʼAuvergne, but the name was
illustrious. A modern commentator, M. Hémardinquer, rightly thinks it
might apply to the ministers of Louis XIV., who all were descended from
citizens, and took for their titles Marquis de Louvois, de Seignelay,
de Barbézieux, Count de Maurepas, de Maillebois, etc., all of which
titles might be considered “not pretty” as names.
[395] This points to M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, bishop of Noyon, who
always boasted of his lineage, and thought himself a wit because he had
been elected a member of the French Academy by the desire of the king.
[396] By the princes of Lorraine are probably meant the Guises,
whose family name was de Lorraine; they were, however, princes de
Joinville. The Rohans were one of the oldest families in Brittany;
the Châtillons, of whom the Admiral de Coligny was one, were related
to the Montmorencys, who date from the tenth century, and had been
chiefly rendered famous in history by the _connétable_ de Montmorency
(1492-1567), the rival of the Duke de Guise.
[397] The _Oriflamme_ was the banner of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, and
only brought out by order of the king the moment the battle began.
[398] _Demoiselle_ was originally the appellation given to any married
or unmarried lady of noble birth, but in La Bruyèreʼs time it was
generally applied to ladies of plebeian origin. In several legal
contracts our authorʼs mother is called _demoiselle veuve_.
[399] There was no public lottery in France before the year 1700,
but the king often had one drawn, and not seldom gave permission to
hospitals and other public institutions also to have them drawn.
[400] The king usually allowed the holders of certain offices to
appoint their successors, or to hold such posts conjointly. But they
had to pay heavily for such _survivances_, as they were called, to the
royal tax-gatherers and to the original holders. (See also page 130,
note.)
[401] The original has _tout lʼappartement_. The rooms where the
courtiers danced attendance at Versailles were called thus.
[402] Some commentators imagine this refers to the Marshal de
Luxembourg, who in 1675 was appointed to succeed the Prince de Condé
as commander-in-chief of the army—an appointment which gave general
satisfaction—and four years later fell into disgrace and was exiled.
The hero who “appears deformed when compared to his portraits,” seems
also to refer to the Marshal, who was humpbacked. However, many other
and earlier authors have made similar remarks about favourites of
fortune fallen from their high estate.
[403] There were three persons named Rousseau, well known to the
courtiers: an innkeeper near the Porte Saint-Denis, the doorkeeper of
the Kingʼs chamber, and the fencing-master of the young royal princes.
Fabry was a man who was “burned at the stake for his infamous vices
about twenty years ago,” says La Bruyère; and La Couture, the tailor of
the Dauphine, had become insane, and was always about the court.
[404] See page 43, note 2.
[405] The “Keys” pretend that Artemon is the Marquis de Vardes, who,
after having been in exile for twenty years, intrigued to be appointed
governor of the youthful Duke of Burgundy, and died in 1688, before he
was successful; about a year afterwards the Duke de Beauvilliers was
appointed to the vacant post.
[406] An allusion to the Duke de Beauvilliers, mentioned in the
preceding note.
[407] The French Academy, composed of forty members, was established on
the 2d of January 1635, and still exists.
[408] It is said that the Minister of State Abel Servien (1598-1639)
refused politely, and that Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661) did not know
how to give.
[409] P. Corneille, in his comedy _Le Menteur_ (act i. scene 1), says
also—
“Tel donne à pleines mains qui nʼoblige personne:
La façon de donner vaut mieux que ce quʼon donne.”
[410] Saint-Simon adopts the word _amphibie_ from our author, and
names, among others, a certain M. Saint-Romain, who was ambassador
at the court of Portugal, and enjoyed the income of two abbeys. Some
commentators think this paragraph refers to M. de Villeroy, who was
archbishop as well as governor of Lyons, and died in 1693; whilst
others suppose it alludes to the Chevalier de Hautefeuille, _grand
prieur dʼAquitaine_, and lieutenant-general to boot.
[411] Menophilus is said to be either Father la Chaise (1624-1709), the
Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV., or the celebrated Capuchin monk Joseph
(1577-1638), the confidant of Cardinal Richelieu. Most likely the
portrait was intended for neither.
[412] When our author wrote, it was the fashion for gentlemen and
ladies of the best society to be present at public executions. Even
Madame de Sévigné went with some ladies of the court to see the
poisoners the Marchioness de Brinvilliers and la Voisin executed (1670
and 1680).
[413] This “happy” individual seems to have been a certain M.
Boucherat, who after his nomination as _chancelier de France_ became
very arrogant.
[414] Some commentators appear to think this refers to M. de
Pontchartrain (see page 143, note 3), who had been Secretary of State
for more than a year when this paragraph first appeared in 1691; but
this Minister was a friend and patron of our author.
[415] There were two kinds of _abbés_. The _abbé régulier_, who was
always a priest, wore the habit of his order, not seldom was a high
dignitary of the Church, and the _abbé commendataire_, who was a
layman, and only enjoyed the revenues of the abbey; in time many a
layman, who had no revenues whatever, either from an abbey or from any
other source, adopted the semi-clerical dress of an _abbé_ and called
himself so.
[416] A bishop wore a golden cross on his breast; cardinals wear purple
dresses.
[417] Louis XIV. used on festive occasions to bestow various gifts on
his courtiers, as well as abbeys and ecclesiastical appointments on
clerical dignitaries.
[418] The “Keys” give the names of several well-known financiers as
those “knaves.”
[419] In the original _homme de bien_. (See page 43, note 2.)
[420] Our author imitates some old French writer, or at least
employs antiquated words, of which the only one worthy of notice is
_saffranier_, stained with saffron, because the houses of bankrupt
traders were formerly stained yellow; hence _saffranier_ meant “a
bankrupt.”
[421] Another allusion to the disgrace of the Duke de Luxembourg. (See
page 195, note 2), which happened from 1679 to 1681.
[422] This new Minister was, according to some, M. Claude le Peletier
(see page 54, note 1), appointed _contrôleur-général des finances_
in 1683, and with whom the Duke de Villeroy, afterwards defeated by
Marlborough at Ramillies, 1706, claimed relationship, though without
any foundation. It seems more likely to have referred to M. de
Pontchartrain. (See page 201, note 2.)
[423] Plancus is the Minister for War, Louvois, who died suddenly in
1691, about a year before this paragraph appeared: Tibur stands for
Meudon, near Paris. In the ancient Tibur, a town of Latium to the
east of Rome, and now called Tivoli, the Latin poet Horace had his
country-seat; Plancus, the Consul, was one of his friends.
[424] This is a reference to Psalm cxxxv. 16, 17.
[425] In French _certaines livrées_, certain liveries. Can this be
an allusion to the _justaucorps à brevet_, or coats only worn by the
Kingʼs permission?
[426] The commentators suppose that a certain Abbé de Choisy
(1644-1724) is meant, who passed a great part of his life dressed as a
woman.
[427] See page 121, note.
[428] The original has _tout ce qui paraît de nouveau avec les livrées
de la faveur_. See also page 205, note 2.
[429] The Italian astronomer T. D. Cassini (1625-1712) was the head of
the Parisian _Observatoire_ for astronomical studies.
[430] A parhelion is a mock sun or meteor near the sun, sometimes
tinged with colours; a parallax is the difference between its position
as seen from some point on the earthʼs surface and its position as seen
from some other conventional point.
[431] This is a hit at the courtiers, who all simulated piety after the
king had married Madame de Maintenon and revoked the edict of Nantes in
1685, and when he was wholly governed by the Jesuits. This paragraph
first appeared in the seventh edition of the “Characters” in 1692.
[432] _Cheminer_, in the original; a word much employed by the
courtiers of Louis XIV.
[433] This country is, of course, the court.
[434] By Harlequinʼs comedies the Italian stage is meant.
[435] See page 174, note 1.
[436] All the “Keys” say this is an allusion to the Cardinal de
Bouillon; but the “Keys” are wrong, for his disgrace did not end until
1690, when this paragraph had already been two years published.
[437] Xantippus is supposed to be M. de Bontemps, the son of one of the
_premiers valets de chambre_ of the king; but this supposition seems
not correct, for he was brought up at court, and was never what can be
called “a favourite.”
[438] See page 186, note 3.
[439] See also page 213, § 75.
[440] The court, Versailles, and the mass which Louis XIV. attended
daily in the royal chapel are alluded to in the above paragraph. The
Iroquois and the Hurons, both tribes of North American Indians, were,
at the time La Bruyère wrote, considered as typical savages, and are
often mentioned in the literature of the period.
[441] De Bussy-Rabutin, Madame de Sévigné, the Marshal de Villeroy, and
the Duke de Richelieu, all describe in their writings the misery they
felt on not seeing the king.
[442] This seems to be an ironical allusion to the idolatrous worship
the courtiers felt, or at least pretended to feel, for Louis XIV., whom
they considered “the image of the Divinity on earth.”
[443] Pascal expresses a similar thought in his _Pensées_, vi. 19, and
so do other authors. The commentators mention as known court-wits the
Count de Grammont, the Duke de Roquelaure, the Duke de Lauzun, the
Count de Bussy-Rabutin, and others.
[444] M. de Bontemps and the Marquis de Dangeau, both of whom we have
already mentioned (see page 210, note 2, and page 156, note 2), seem to
be meant.
[445] The commentators give the names of several personages, all
already mentioned before, such as the Count dʼAubigné, the Chancellor
Boucherat, the Archbishop of Rheims, Le Tellier, and others.
[446] All the “Keys” say that M. de Pomponne (1618-1699) is meant
by Aristides; but he was still in disgrace when this paragraph was
published (1689), and remained so for two years longer.
[447] Straton is undoubtedly the Duke de Lauzun, and his
brother-in-law, the Duke de Saint-Simon, admits it. Lauzun had been
a great favourite of the king, and had nearly married Louis XIV.ʼs
cousin, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, but he was disgraced, imprisoned
for ten years, partly reinstated in the kingʼs favour, banished again
from the court, and finally sent with an army of French auxiliaries to
assist James II. in Ireland, where he was present at the battle of the
Boyne. The Duke died in 1723, at the age of ninety.
[448] The first and last paragraphs of this chapter are an epitome of
the whole.
[449] Nearly all commentators suppose that Theagenes is Phillippe de
Vendôme (1655-1727), _grand prieur de Malte_, a grandson of Henry IV.
and Gabrielle dʼEstrées, and one of the most profligate men of his age;
but it is more likely that La Bruyère wished to reprove his former
pupil, the Duke de Bourbon, who at the time this paragraph appeared
(1691) was but twenty-three years old, and addicted to very bad company.
[450] This seems to be an allusion to Louis XIV., who never felt the
loss of any of his ministers or officers. The latter part of the above
paragraph probably refers to the successors of Turenne, Condé, and
Colbert, who had all been dead some time before the year 1689, when it
first appeared.
[451] If the Abbé de Choisy (see page 205, note 3) ever told La Bruyère
how he was brought up, as he mentions in his _Mémoires_, there can be
no doubt he was the original of Lucilius.
[452] In the original, _il se fait de fête_; an expression also used by
other authors in La Bruyèreʼs time.
[453] Theophilus is generally believed to have been the Abbé Roquette
(1623-1707), Bishop of Autun, the supposed prototype of Molièreʼs
_Tartuffe_, and, according to Saint-Simon, “a man all sugar and honey,
and mixed up in every intrigue.” The “great man ... scarcely set foot
on shore” was James II. of England, who came to France in 1689, two
years before the above paragraph was published. The Abbé Roquetteʼs
character seems not so black as it has been painted, at least according
to M. J. Henri Pignotʼs Life of him, published in 1876.
[454] Compare in the chapter “Of Personal Merit,” § 33.
[455] Telephon, an odd name now, is said to be a portrait of François
dʼAubusson (1625-1691), Count de la Feuillade, Duke de Rouanez, and
Marshal of France, who at his cost erected a bronze monument to the
glory of Louis XIV. on the Place des Victoires in Paris, where it still
stands.
[456] Davus is a certain Prudhomme, a proprietor of bath-and
wash-houses, with whom M. de la Feuillade lodged before he became a
favourite, in whom he had always the greatest confidence, and whose
daughter he is supposed to have married after the death of his first
wife.
[457] It is even now usual for strict Roman Catholics abroad to
celebrate the day of the saint after which they are named, instead of
the day on which they are born.
[458] Rinaldo is the Achilles of the Christian army in Tassoʼs
“Jerusalem Delivered,” and the rival of Orlando in Ariostoʼs “Orlando
Furioso;” the second is the true hero of the latter poem, the third the
friend and companion of Orlando, and the fourth the greatest of the
Christian warriors except Rinaldo, in Tassoʼs poem, already mentioned.
[459] Among the great there were such names as Tancrède de Rohan,
Hercule de Fleury, Achille de Harlay, Phébus de Foix, Cyrus de Brion,
etc.; even citizens took grand classical or romantic names.
[460] The original has _côteaux_, most probably because some noblemen
only drank certain wines which grew on some hill-slopes, called
_côteaux_ in French.
[461] Thais, an Athenian courtesan, mentioned in Drydenʼs “Alexanderʼs
Feast;” Phryne was another Athenian courtesan, said to have been
Apellesʼ model.
[462] Philipsburg, an ancient fortified town of the Grand Duchy of
Baden, had been taken by the Dauphin in 1688, after a monthʼs siege.
[463] Among the citizens who had “become powerful” may be reckoned J.
B. Colbert (see page 132, note), whose three daughters married dukes,
and whose son married a relative of the Bourbon family.
[464] La Bruyère had, no doubt, experienced this when at the Duke de
Condéʼs.
[465] The original has _mal content_, for, during the seventeenth
century, _mal_ was more generally placed before an adjective than now;
at present _mécontent_ would be used, which, when La Bruyère wrote, had
often the meaning of “a rebel.”
[466] Gaston dʼOrléans (1608-1660), the brother of Louis XIII., and
even the Prince de Condé were examples of such “great.”
[467] The original has _vertu_, in the sense of the Latin _virtus_,
courage.
[468] Thersites, according to the _Iliad_, was squinting, humpbacked,
loquacious, loud, coarse, and scurrilous, but he was not a “common
soldier,” but a chief. Achilles was the hero of the allied Greek army
besieging Troy.
[469] Le Brun (1616-1690), a celebrated painter, was still alive when
this paragraph appeared. For Lulli and Racine, see page 46, note, and
page 11, note 3. Compare also page 226, § 19.
[470] Achille de Harlay (1639-1712), President of the Parliament of
Paris, and descended from an illustrious line of magistrates, is said
to have feigned an excess of modesty which was not natural to him. See
also page 45, note 1.
[471] This beginning of every English town-crierʼs oration, pronounced
“Oh yes! Oh yes!” is merely the imperative of the defective French
verb, _ouir_, “to hear,” now seldom used, except in the present
infinitive and in proverbial phrases.
[472] Aristarchus also refers to the above President, whose liberality,
according to public rumour, was somewhat ostentatious.
[473] Another allusion to M. de Harley, whose “wise saws and modern
sayings” were proverbial.
[474] A _cabinet_ was a sort of social circle in Paris, where people
generally met to exchange small talk and to hear the news or lectures
on all subjects.
[475] See page 19, note 3.
[476] M. de Harlay (1625-1695), Archbishop of Paris, is said to have
been the original of Theognis. (See page 46, § 26.) He was the nephew
of the President mentioned on the previous page, note 1.
[477] Pamphilus is the Marquis de Dangeau, of whom we have already
spoken (see page 156, note 2), and who made himself ridiculous by his
excessive vanity. Saint-Simon, in his _Mémoires_, calls the Marquis _un
Pamphile_, but our author speaks of _les Pamphiles_, and describes them
at three different times, namely, in 1681, 1691, and 1692.
[478] See page 47, note 3. When this paragraph appeared, the Marquis de
Dangeau had been already three years a Knight of the Order of the Holy
Ghost. The knights of this order wore a cross hanging from a broad blue
ribbon, which were both depicted around their escutcheon.
[479] See page 70, note 1.
[480] Such an official was in our authorʼs time called _le premier
commis_.
[481] The original has _il vous coupe_, “he will cut you,” an
expression also used by Saint-Simon and Madame de Sévigné; the English
phrase “to cut a person,” in the sense of passing by him without
pretending to see him, seems almost to have the same primary meaning.
[482] Two celebrated actors of the seventeenth century; Floridor, whose
real name was Josias Soulas de Frinefosse, died in 1672, and Mondori in
1651.
[483] See page 240, note 3.
[484] This minister is said to have been Louvois (see page 204, note
2), who liked to have many postulants about him.
[485] See page 164, note 1.
[486] The Rue Saint-Denis was a street in Paris crowded with small
tradesmen, and still exists. Our author was nearly always afraid of
clearly mentioning Versailles or Fontainebleau, and very often employed
only the initial letters and asterisks or dots.
[487] The original _république_, which was inserted for the first time
in the fourth edition of the “Characters,” is used in the sense of the
Latin _respublica_.